


T R A I N R I D E

by EnchantedToReadYou



Category: Glee
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-18
Updated: 2015-10-18
Packaged: 2018-04-27 00:16:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5026273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EnchantedToReadYou/pseuds/EnchantedToReadYou
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Who would have thought that being stuck in a train in Ohio would give you the opportunity to be invited to games with a cute stranger?</p>
            </blockquote>





	T R A I N R I D E

**Author's Note:**

> Do you even have trains in Ohio? I think so. Accuracy so not guaranteed,

At first Kurt doesn’t notice him. People are pressing against his back and into his side and despite the amount of them squishing uncomfortably together as the train chugging onwards, Kurt cannot seem to get warm. Through the slits of the isolation in the closed door, the cold winter air is seeping in and the heaters have long lost the fight against it. So of course in between the cold and the sniffling and coughing people getting thrown around the train at every turn, Kurt doesn't focus on any particular passenger until he does.

Beside him only one other person is crammed against the doors. Clipped nails, long tan hands and a black puffy jacket, is what Kurt notices first as the person traces patterns on the frosted windows of the door. His eyes wander up after that, taking in Beanie covered dark curls, a soft sloping nose, beautifully long eyelashes and a strong chin. The guy’s cute. Definitely cute enough to make Kurt immediately avert his gaze once he is caught staring.

So he’s pressed to a cute guy, Yellow Beanie, for another two hours in a train in freaking Ohio and all he can do is focus on the snow covered tree tops they pass by. There is not enough space for him to pull out his book and read or even to comfortably text with his friends and ...there is Yellow Beanie next to him he definitely cannot look at. He quickly remembers why he cannot wait to get out of Ohio after the winter break after staring out for several minutes and seeing nothing but the same landscape as if played in a loop.

Therefore, no one can really blame Kurt when his eyes do wander back to the man beside him, even if just to the hands still drawing on glass. There isn’t much to see from this angle though, so he wiggles back a bit and turns more until what has been drawn in the white frost is visible to him. Some of it has already been layered with a new layer of frost so that only the outline remains, while his finger traces new patterns on the glass and leaves a dark trail. It’s obvious that Yellow Beanie is not an artist. Generic five petal flowers and little hearts and a sun were doodled here and there and he’s currently working on a stick figure family as his pike of artistry. Kurt would get miffed at the obvious gendering of the stick figures, if the family did not have two men as parents, surrounded by smaller, skirt wearing stick figures. Kurt stops himself from giggling when the two men also get very long spaghetti arms so that they can hold hands above their stick children.

As he watches him draw, Kurt’s mind supplies him with scenario after scenario in which Yellow Beanie would notice him and draw all of this for him, or where the train gets stuck and they have to camp out, snuggling close together to keep warm in the threatening cold, or where Kurt will simply be brave enough to say hi. The fantasies play out so vividly in his mind that he thinks that the newly drawn empty field of tic-tac-toe is just another figment of his imagination until he feels an elbow nudge his right side.

“I’m bored and the next station isn’t for half an hour. Would you care to join me for a game of god ol’ tic-tac-toe?”

Kurt finally dares to look at him. His voice is soft, as is his smile and Kurt needs to blink because he cannot believe that this is actually happening. He hasn’t found love in the few months he has been living in New York City and of  all places, the train in Ohio should be where he met someone? But he’s getting ahead of himself. He was just asked to a round of tic-tac-toe, not a date in the flickering lights of the Eiffel Tower at night.

“Yeah,” Kurt answers lamely and in an attempt to appear cooler than he feels, adds, “But are you prepared to lose?”

Yellow Beanie laughs. “Oh we’ll see who has to be prepared for crushing defeat.”

Kurt takes the Xs, Yellow Beanie the Os. Their first round end quickly and in a draw. The second one does as well. The third board is drawn and just as Kurt wants to put his cross in the middle, a chilly hand grabs his.

“No, no, no. It’s my turn to start. We’ll always end up in a draw with you putting your x in the center.”

“Not true.”

Yellow Beanie raises an eyebrow and grins. “So true! Therefore, it is my turn.”

“All right, we’ll see if it changes anything if you start.”

He is grinned at as Yellow Beanie, who still has his hand in his light grip, leads Kurt’s hand over to the board, then takes Kurt’s index finger to draw. Kurt guffaws when Yellow Beanie replicates his signature move and just puts a cross in the middle, using Kurt’s own hand. Yellow Beanie just laughs at his expression, then lets go of Kurt’s hand to gesture at him to put in his O.

“I see, that’s how you wanna play,” Kurt says. “Stealing my winning strategy? That won’t be of any use to you.”

“It’s not a winning strategy if you haven't actually won with it.”

It turns out that in his hands, it is a winning move when Kurt realizes that whatever his next move, Yellow Beanie can set his winning cross on either ends of the board. Kurt calls that cheating.

They play another round and end up in a draw.

“Okay, I think our tic-tac-toe strategies are running out. What do you say to hang man,” Yellow Beanie asks after they repeatedly end up in a draw.

“I say, bring it on.”

This time Kurt’s confidence isn’t played; at least not entirely. Kurt feels comfortable around him, because Yellow Beanie is ridiculously charismatic and easy to talk to. The six lines Yellow Beanie draws end up on Kurt’s side of the door as his are full of tic-tac-toe and long frosted over stick figures, which ultimately forces their bodies closer.  Now with Kurt’s shoulder pressed to Yellow Beanie’s chest and his arm brushing against Kurt’s shoulder, Kurt barely dares to breathe in. But he does and he blushes when his nose picks up the clean smell of detergent and sugar cookies of Yellow Beanie.

He feels a warm breath hitting his ear, as Yellow Beanie says, “Six letter word. Go.”

The first letter out of Kurt’s mouth admittedly sounds a bit choked but earns him one of the lines being replaced by an E, right at the end of the word. The following guesses come out sturdier as he gets used to Yellow Beanie’s closeness. It does not prevent the lines for the gallows getting added to but occasionally letters turn out to be right until he only has four left to guess.

 

_ L A I _ E

 

“Oh come on, that is a ridiculous word. What could that possibly be?” Kurt asks. When he turns to Yellow Beanie, he’s slightly startled at how huge his hazel eyes appear up close.

“It most definitely is a word. And not a ridiculous one.”

“Claim-e, Slain-e, Plain-e...You know that to slain or the plain are written without an e at the end? Or are you cheating again and want me to lose by purposefully adding a letter at the end?”

“I have never cheated, I won tic-tac-toe square and fair. But for your information, I am positive that this is a real and not ridiculous word with proper spelling.”

Kurt groans. “God. I don’t know. Is there a N in it?”

“Ding, ding, ding.”

At least Kurt has not used one of his last two tries on the wrong letter. Not that it helps him when the N is added and the word reads _ L A I N E in Yellow Beanie’s big bold handwriting.

“Plaine-” Kurt tries again, wondering out loud.

“Is that your guess?”

“No.”

Yellow Beanie lays his chin on Kurt’s shoulder, silently asking for permission that Kurt gives by shyly smiling back.

“Good, because you already guessed that and it would be wrong either way.”

Then, what could it be? What could it possibly be? Glaine, Dlaine (no he already guessed D and it was wrong and earned him an immature snicker), Flaine, Wlaine?

“Come on, I thought you wanted to show me how excruciating defeat is,” Yellow Beanie teases. “I do not considered drawing hanging stick figures of cute guys my hobby.”

Cute? He thought Kurt was cute?   
“B?” Kurt blurts out just to stop himself from asking that question out loud.

His cheer is loud in Kurt’s ear but the words soothe his suddenly alert heart. “Yes, you did it. You did it.”

B L A I N E.

It’s a name. It’s Yellow Beanie’s name. Or it’s just a really weird first word pick.

“See,” Possibly Blaine asks. “It’s not a ridiculous word. Or, if you still think it is you’ll have to talk to my parents about their poor baby name choices.”

So Yellow Beanie, Possibly Blaine, is most definitely Blaine. Kurt nearly gives his name in return but thinks better of it and adds first four horizontal lines, then six more after leaving some space between them.

His first name would be too simple a challenge, his full name could be used to find him on Facebook, so it’s an easy pick.

Once the game begins anew, it turns out that Blaine is much better at tic-tac-toe than he is at guessing fitting letters. In the end, a hat/Beanie wearing stick figure is dangling over the unfinished words.

_ _ R T   H _ M M E L. 

“Not fair, mine was easier. I only had one word,” Blaine says through pouting lips with his chin again dropped onto Kurt’s shoulder.

It’s obvious that he is joking, or maybe that he is a bad loser. He can be a bad loser if he keeps on looking that cute whining. Kurt’s hands have to do the victory dance for him as there still are body parts of strangers poking into his back but it makes Blaine snort as it was supposed to.

“So, Kurt Hummel,“ Blaine drawls once Kurt has filled in the missing letters. “What has brought you to this amazing train ride? Apart from the illustrious and not at all drab scenery of Ohio of course.”

“I’m visiting my family over the holidays. It’s always a hurdle to come back here but it’s better than staying at a lonely apartment in New York with nothing but my TV  and Peanutbutter Ben&Jerry’s keeping me company.”   
Hint at being single? Check.

“You do not live in New York City now but grew up in Ohio!”

“Sadly, yes I did?”

“Me too. Where in Ohio?”

“It’s a pretty insignificant town in the backbone of the state. Lima, Ohio, the only city in the world where Neanderthals are still alive and roam the premises of every high school and slobber all over the sidewalks and the remaining sane people. It’s two stops from here, actually.”

Blaine laughs at his description and nods as if he can relate. He probably can, seeing as he grew up in Ohio as well. “I like your home state spirit. Westerville is not that much of an improvement but at least my high school was a Neanderthal free zone. I am still not so sure about my bigger brother and his evolutionary process though but he hasn’t slobbered on me lately.”

Kurt immediately knows which high school Blaine must have attended and feels jealousy twinge his intestines. It doesn’t matter now, he reminds himself, he made it out anyway. The Neanderthals haven’t won.

Nonetheless, Kurt still is eager to change the topic. “Do you go to college in New York?”

Blaine nods and his eyes are so expressive, immediately showing his happiness. “NYU for a Performing Arts degree. I know, I know. What would I want to achieve with that? Well, thanks for asking but I aspire to be Broadway’s next hot commodity at some point, while other people are stuck at a desk job, thank you very much.”

Kurt frowns because this is when Kurt suspects this to be a prank. No stranger that cute, who actually talked to him, who grew up in Ohio and then moved to New York, just as he had, could also be having the same aspirations as him. It was too good to be true anyway. A cute, GAY stranger in Ohio just coincidentally standing next to him in a cramped train? As if. Who could have set this up? Tina?!

“Is something wrong?” Blaine looks at him with concern. “Not a big fan of the theater? Oh god, wait. Do you want to have a desk job? There is nothing wrong with that, I just get tired of being criticized for my career choice and-”

“No, I just- Nevermind.”

Blaine visibly deflates. “If you say so.”

Kurt doesn’t want to reveal this information about himself just yet. Just in case this is a prank and he will be laughed at. Too good to be true. This is too good to be true. Point him to the camera. Just in case he texts Tina if she set him up and gets an immediate ‘WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?’ back. When he looks up he finds Blaine staring at him,

“Are you up for another round of hang man?”

It’s so obvious that Blaine wants to get through the awkward silence that has built up between them and Kurt is just as eager to, so he agrees. This time it is an easy one, clearly chosen so that Kurt would win. It is ridiculous how that gesture makes Kurt’s body fill with warmth. By the end of this round, his smile has long returned to his face and his suspicions are shoved into the back of his mind.

T R A I N

Kurt picks his word next, also taking an easy one. In between guessing they talk, often long enough to be startled when their gazes flicker back to the letters in the frost, because they nearly forgot they were playing. He finds out that Blaine came so close to vomiting after accidentaly eating half a tin of pot brownies meant for his roommate and in return shares with him the story of how he puked on his student council. Learns that Blaine is a dog person and they argue about cats, which surprisingly leads to a discussion about families and how Blaine wants three children and Kurt doesn’t know yet but he’d prefer one.

Blaine is charming, but not to the point of lying, Kurt notices. A tad too open whereas Kurt holds most thing closely to his chest, but it’s good to have a natural flow of conversation because of it. Blaine also gestures with his hands a lot when he talks and it’s so endearing that Kurt’s cheeks turn warm when he stares at them. Or when he stares at his chapped lips or Blaine’s own red cheeks.

In between going through their political convictions and sharing joy about the legalization of LGBT marriage they return to their game and find most of it is barely recognizable through the new frost.

_ E A N _, is still visible though and it doesn’t take long until Blaine figures out what it means, pointing at his Beanie as a way of announcing the now obvious last letter.   
Blaine doesn’t ask if he’s up to another round, just adds four new lines. So this will be another easy one with such few letters. Kurt starts out with an A and an E, both apparently right as Blaine writes them on the glass, and is right again with a T just as the speakers above blurt out information.

“-xt stop, Westerville Ohio. Attention please, shortly we will arrive at our next stop Westerville, Ohio.”

Blaine freezes in place. “Already? It can’t have been half an hour, can it?”

“Apparently,” Kurt says finally.

He’d deny any connection to such thoughts but in this moment Kurt wishs the train would suddenly stop in the middle of Ohio, so that he’d be stuck here with Blaine a little longer. Just a little. Enough time to work up the courage to ask him out.

“Kurt, the last letter.” Blaine urges.

Distracted by his own worried thoughts Kurt stares at the word.  

_ A T E

 

Who really cares about the stupid game when they could use the time awkwardly talking each other into exchanging numbers? Kurt wants to say as much but is distracted as Blaine draws a big fat question mark behind the unfinished word.

“Guess the last letter.” Blaine says again.

“Actually, before you have to get out-”

“Attention please, we are now approaching Westerville, Ohio,” The mechanical voice reminds them.

Blaine looks frantic then and wildly gestures at the word and Kurt can do nothing but stare dumbly at it. Is it L A T E? Because it might be too late if Kurt cannot just ask him this simple question. It has to be now.

“Blaine, would you like to, uhm-”

Kurt trails off just as Blaine curses, “Screw it,” and simply adds the last letter. It’s a ‘D’ and this time it is Kurt who breaks out a giddy grin. That grin only widens when Blaine writes a M and an E directly under it.

 

D A T E  M E ?

 

Kurt doesn’t say anything. Instead he takes his finger to write:

Y E S and quickly adds a giant ‘!’ just as the scenery stops and gives way to a small grey station seemingly breaking the eternal white.

“Westerville, Ohio.” The speaker’s voice repeats the third time as the train comes to a halt.

“Are you on Facebook?” Blaine asks hurriedly and grins wider when Kurt nods.

There is not much time left and the doors are about the be opened when Kurt leans in and whispers, “Kurt Hummel. Don’t forget that name. Kurt Hummel,” and presses a quick kiss to Blaine’s cheek. Kurt would have been embarrassed of it too if Blaine hadn’t blushed so vividly.

“I won’t,” Blaine whispers back.

Then Blaine grips the duffel bag to his feet and exits the train. They wave at each other, practically two strangers but somehow no longer such, as the doors close again and the train takes off. Through the snow storm, Blaine’s yellow beanie is visible for a few more seconds until the train gains speed. It is gone from view just as his phone buzzes in his pocket.

  
Facebook Notification

Blaine Anderson requests your friendship. Accept?

  
**Y E S !**

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
